I’d like to encourage everyone to think carefully about the way we in America approach discussions about our rights as citizens. I’ll use the inherent right of defense as an example, but the principle applies to the inalienable rights to speak, to assemble, to peacefully petition for the redress of grievances, and to be secure in your person and just possessions.
Your right and your duty is to defend your life, the life of your family, and the just means you require to secure your right to life, liberty, and property along with your other inalienable rights.
You also have a right and an obligation to provide for the common defense; the just defense of your community, your state, and your nation.
This right and this obligation is given to you by the Almighty. It exists independently of government or of other humans.
Government exists solely for the purpose of securing inalienable rights; especially your right to defend your life, liberty, and property; also to enable you to fulfil your obligation to the common defense.
Freedom- and liberty-loving people must refer primarily to this concept of God-given sacrosanct rights.
The Second Amendment is necessary, well, and good (as are all of the Bill of Rights). However, it has become my opinion that too many people invoke the Second Amendment first, and in a way that makes it appear that the Second Amendment itself is what grants citizens the right to self-defense or to bear arms. That is not the case. The Second Amendment is a fundamental constraint requiring the federal and state governments to act in a positive way to ensure that citizens are able to exercise their inherent right to self-defense.
It’s time to place the Second Amendment into the context necessary for citizens to properly frame the discussion regarding defense.